You might not have all heard from me from a while. Under the username SamuriFerret I was a moderator and active community member of ONM, and was a member of the old forum from only a month after it started. I have a ton of great memories from the forum growing up and it really shaped my life in lots of ways.

A lot of the regular ONM crowd are now truly good friends of mine in the real world. My passion for making community driven games and animations back on the old forums never ceased, and my hobbies of game development and pixel art lead me to a real life career of making cool video-games like the ones I used to talk about on forums.

This all came around full circle for me, when just under a year ago a big project I'm heavily involved in was announced directly on a Nintendo stream and is being released for the Switch. I can't stress how much of a dream come true that was, and it definitely wouldn't have happened if I didn't stick around this community to hone that passion.

You guys are all rad for sticking around for so long. I hope for the best for you all.

Edit: Props to OR for keeping this site running for so long. That's fantastic dedication, dude.

Sad to see it go considering ONM was my introduction to internet communities back in 2007. Not only have I been on one hell of a journey because of people I've met on here who introduced me to other sites but also I've got to use places like this to grow as a person. It's always best to let go and move on but it's given me a chance not only to reminisce about the past but also to remember the many people I spent hours upon hours talking to only to now know that I haven't seen many of them in years (shame about ONMix/4Mix dying) and will probably never exchange words with many of them ever again. Shame.

10 years I spent on the various incarnations of these forums, off and on (with increasing emphasis on the off). It really is a long time when you think about it.

These forums exposed me to so many different people and points of view. Some of these were intelligent and thought-provoking enough to make a genuine contribution to how my way of thinking developed over my teenage years. Much more of it was nonsense of course, but a lot of that was fun nonsense.

I never really took proper part in this version, but it was still strangely nice to know that it still existed. It's been great seeing old usernames in this thread and hearing how people are getting on. For my own part, I did become a zoologist the way I used to say I wanted to (if anyone remembers). Currently studying evolution as a PhD student under an Irish Government scholarship and having a great time.

Well done to the SONM team and especially to OR for taking this on and making it last as long as it did.

I don't think I'll be coming to GRcade. If you'd like to keep in touch and we don't already have a way to, PM me and maybe we can work one out. Like a gathering with old friends you won't be seeing for a while, the only way to close this out is with melancholy old songs:

I met some great people through ONM and I'm very sad to see this place go, even if I wasn't active. I have a lot of fond memories from the forums and that's all due to the people that made it up. Thanks guys.

This feels like an appropriate place to ask, does nyone know what became of the ONM member Wii U Marry Me after ONM closed and SONM opened up shop?

Forums closing is a bit sad, though we've been here before. I'm not sure if I'll make the migration, but it was nice knowing that ONM in one form or another was always there if I felt like dropping in - even if I wasn't anyone of particular significance throughout the magazine/forum history

So is there a reason why I can't have a sig on GRcade? Only lets me have an avatar. And also the search feature is locked out to me bizarrely. I get a "Sorry but you are not permitted to use the search system" message

I've always been pretty quiet on the forums, but I’ve been on some form of ONM for what must be around 12 year now, so it’s sad to see it go. I haven’t been on a lot lately and when I have I did notice that there wasn’t a lot of activity, so while it’s sad, it is understandable. Even though I've mostly been a lurker on here, the community has always been sometihg like a familier comfort blanket since I've been here so long. I might make an account on GRcade but I can't see my using it very much.

Thanks for keeping this place going so long, OR, you did a good job of it and it's great you've kept it going as long as you have.

I don't know if anyone would want to reach me, but just in case, feel free to add my NNID (PunishingLawyer), I also post on Reddit sometimes (also PunishingLawyer), or drop me a PM for my Discord or email or tumblr.